UN pleads for end to Kyrgyzstan violence

The United Nations today urged Kyrgyzstan not to allow bloody ethnic unrest to derail a referendum and parliamentary elections.

The UN Security Council called "for calm, a return of rule of law and order, and a peaceful resolution of differences" as the Red Cross reported that it believed hundreds were dead.

UN representative Miroslav Jenca said in the capital Bishkek that a referendum on June 27 on a new constitution, and parliamentary elections in October, must go ahead despite the troubles.

The central Asian nation has suffered days of widespread ethnic violence in the wake of an uprising that toppled president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April.

The health ministry said the death toll from the clashes, which have forced tens of thousands of Uzbeks to flee, has reached 171, with nearly 1,800 injured.

Observers say the real figures are much higher - the International Committee of the Red Cross had no precise figure of the dead, but spokesman Christian Cardon said "we are talking about several hundreds".

Uzbekistan set up camps to handle the flood of refugees, most of them women, children and the elderly. They were hungry and frightened, with accounts of Uzbek girls being raped and Kyrgyz snipers shooting at them as they rushed to the border. Aid workers said many had suffered gunshot wounds. An Uzbek spokesman said at least 100,000 of his people were awaiting entry into their homeland, while another 80,000 had crossed the border.

Uzbeks make up 15 per cent of Kyrgyzstan's five million people and are generally better off, but they have few representatives in power and want greater political and cultural rights.

They have backed the interim government headed by Roza Otunbayeva, while most Kyrgyz in the south support Mr Bakiyev, who is now in exile.